Exiles of Ascension
****
By Drew Cordell

Earth has been laid to ruin, but that is not the story. A
handful of survivors on have thrived on the International Space Station for
nearly eighty years, until they decrypt a strange signal. Can Nick and company escape
the remains of their home before it falls from orbit? I won’t tell! Read this
novella for yourself.

Like a good prequel novella, Exiles of Ascension tells a
complete story that gives a glimpse into the larger series Cordell has begun.

Cordell’s time table, from a hard scifi perspective, for
moon and Mars colonies within the next twenty years is interesting. I know Elon
Musk and others are already working out plans to put a colony on our rusty
neighbor. Is it possible? I think so. Then again, Biosphere 2 near Tucson
Arizona is the only experiment I know about that attempted to emulate a closed
ecosystem that could support life. Growing up in Arizona in the 90s, I visited
the facility on a school field trip. It was the cornerstone for the space craft
I wrote about in my first novel, but I digress.

Could we put closed, sustainable ecosystems on the moon and
Mars within the next twenty years? I can’t wait to find out. Lucky for
Cordell’s characters, his answer is yes.

It would be a lonely job to be among the handful of
colonists on another planet (or moon), but to then watch Earth’s destruction?
That is an interesting place to launch a scifi series!

I received a free copy in exchange for a review. Any review.
That fact that it’s a good one is because the book is good. Which has nothing
to do with how awesome I am. You’ll have to find that out for yourself
@S_Shane_Thomas on Twitter.

This was a great little introduction to Cordell’s Absolute
Knowledge series. If I ever dig myself out of my current TBR, I’ll press on
into the novels!